The use of 49.3 for pension reform stuck in their throats. In the center of the village of Couthures-sur-Garonne (Lot-et-Garonne), some visitors to the International Journalism Festival – organized by the Le Monde group (Le Monde, Courrier international, HuffPost, Télérama and La Vie) and L’ Obs, from Friday 14 to Sunday 16 July – wanted to show their anger at the institutions and the exercise of power by Emmanuel Macron. “Democrat” or “Stop the providential man”, could be read on small words which rubbed shoulders with others on a wall of free expression. “Don’t try anything other than democracy,” one warned.
For its seventh edition, the festival has resumed its marks in this village of 380 inhabitants now accustomed to transforming itself, for three days, into a place of exchange between journalists and “consumers” of information. This year, 8,500 people (in “cumulative”) attended, a 28% increase in attendance compared to 2022. Alongside the women’s revolt in Iran, the metamorphoses of rugby, mental health, from the rise of artificial intelligence to the role of public broadcasting, one topic stood out: “Can democracy disappear?” »
On Friday, the festival-goers exchanged for two hours with the guest of honor of the festival, the Italian writer Roberto Saviano, a declared opponent of the government of Giorgia Meloni. “The far-right government in power in Italy may foreshadow the future of France,” warned the author of Gomorrah, a reference book on the Neapolitan mafia. “That’s why France must observe my country like a laboratory, carefully,” he added.
“A regime that is moving more and more towards authoritarianism”
Saturday, July 15 morning, a (fake) trial of representative democracy fascinated the public under the big tent of the Poplars. While environmental activist Mathilde Imer played the role of prosecutor, Thomas Legrand, columnist at Liberation, acted as defense lawyer. After two hours of fiery debates punctuated by bursts of laughter, the majority of festival-goers voted their attachment to representative democracy, while being very critical of its current development.
“France is a regime that is moving more and more towards authoritarianism”, worried a young festival-goer, denouncing “a power wanting to criminalize ecological protesters who highlight the climate emergency, or evoking the idea of ??cutting off the Internet in certain districts in the event of urban riots. »
While some festival-goers taste the local gastronomy during the outdoor lunch break, others reflect on how to improve the French democratic system, talking with the guests of the round table “How to get democracy out of its ” fatigue” “. “Full proportional representation can be a danger, as we see in Israel, where small parties can make very expensive money for their participation in government,” warns historian Jean-Noël Jeanneney.
“The proportional allows the diversity of opinions”, advocates, meanwhile, Dorian Dreuil, co-president of the non-governmental organization A Voté and head of “advocacy” within the association Démocratie Ouverte. “We can create co-construction with proportional representation that would not be integral and would not necessarily lead to instability,” he wants to believe. “We only talk about the national scale, but we omit the local scale which is essential for democracy”, then annoys Mr. Jeanneney.
“The key is deliberative democracy”
Mathilde Imer, the former thinker of the Popular Primary, and sociologist Vincent Tiberj together promote “majority judgment”, recalling that this scoring system is supposed to better express the opinions of voters and avoid the “perverse effects” of the single-member ballot. “More broadly, the key is deliberative democracy, which makes it possible to debate and better accept decisions,” says Mathilde Imer.
“Do we have time to talk, when the climate emergency is real? asks a festival-goer, while a heat wave is raging on the northern hemisphere of the planet and the birds, fauna and underwater flora of the Atlantic could be strongly affected. “What came out of the citizens’ climate convention, specialists have been saying for years,” she says.
“Race to the Hearing”
A few hours later, on Saturday, journalists were criticized for their responsibility for the rise in “info anxiety”. “How much space do you give to positive information?” We don’t see it, and we wonder if you’re not in a race for the audience, “says another festival-goer, very applauded.
“Audience is not a bad word, because it allows us to earn money and finance our journalism,” replies Fabien Namias, deputy general manager of the LCI channel. “Perhaps we should find more light in the darkest themes”, he agrees, denouncing “the fear business” of certain media, without naming the reactionary competitor channel CNews, controlled by the billionaire Vincent Bollore.
The businessman is seen by the journalists of the Sunday newspaper as the one who chose Geoffroy Lejeune, former director of the far-right weekly Current Values, to take the lead in writing their title. Massively rejecting this choice, the employees renewed their strike on Saturday. There was a lot of talk about their struggle for independence during these three days.
Sunday evening, when it was time to leave Couthures-sur-Garonne, and to meet in 2024, eyes lingered on posters in support of their strike. Tuesday, July 18, the date set for the next general meeting, the employees of the Sunday weekly will count twenty-six days of social movement to defend their newspaper and democracy.
